


Imposing

by ToxicPineapple



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Angst, Brief death mention at the end, Canon Compliant, Cuddling, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Motive Videos, Nightmares, girls...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 20:11:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: “...Asahina,” Sakura’s low voice interrupts her thoughts, and Aoi jumps. Not because she forgot the other girl was there (Sakura has a sort of… very distinct presence, to the extent that every time they’re in the same room, Aoi is very aware of it) but more because she got so caught up with thinking that she didn’t realise that she was probably being very loud. She pulls her hands away from her eyes, looking over at the martial artist and trying not to look too pathetic. “Are you… alright?” Sakura inquires faintly.---My take on how it went when Sakura spent the night in Aoi's room in chapter one.





	Imposing

Aoi gazes up at the ceiling, eyes wide open, and tries to even out her breaths. It’s past eleven, by now, and she should really be fast asleep, but…

She turns her head to the side and sneaks a glance at Sakura, who appears to be fast asleep next to her.

It’s awkward, being in the same room like this, considering that they’ve only just met each other. They’re both girls, and Aoi figures that should take away from  _ some  _ of the awkwardness, but it isn’t. They’ve been lying here in bed next to each other for about an hour and her heart is still pounding like it’s going to break right through her ribcage. It was already so awkward  _ initially  _ when Sakura offered to stay the night in her room, but the fact that they’re sharing a bed… didn’t really register until they were staring at it.

Actually, Sakura offered to sleep on the floor, but Aoi would’ve felt bad about that. The obvious solution was to share. (Or at least, it seemed that way, a couple hours ago, when Sakura was still awake.)

There’s a pretty simple reason for Sakura being here in the first place. Aoi was scared. Not just the regular old nervous she gets sometimes in anticipation of races or new experiences, but genuinely scared. She already wasn’t handling their kidnapping-forced murder situation here very well, but that video… she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, swallowing down a lump in her throat and trying not to think about the fear that spiked through her when she saw Yuta smiling at the camera. Only to disappear moments later, the swimming pool at his school in ruins.

Monokuma’s voice in the video made the whole thing even worse. And Aoi wasn’t  _ entirely  _ sure what to make of it (she’s not the smartest of the bunch, she would be the first to admit) but it told her that whoever was keeping her here, they had the resources to do something to her brother. They had the resources to hurt her family… and who knows what’s happening to him now? Was that footage taken out of context, and is he sleeping in his bed right now, safe at home, or… or is he kidnapped somewhere, scared out of his wits, wishing for his parents and his older sister? Is he thinking of her?

Aoi shakes her head, reaching up and pressing her palms into her eyes. The awkwardness seems to have diminished now that she’s let those thoughts take over, but she’d almost rather have it back then keep thinking about questions she has no way of getting an answer to. All she can hope for is that the police show up and save them, or that as a group, they find a way to get out of here. She’s not going to kill anybody. She couldn’t do that, even for Yuta. But she still feels like she’s going to throw up.

And beyond that, she knows that  _ she  _ won’t kill anyone, but what about everyone else here? Aoi glances at Sakura, decides quietly that the martial artist can be trusted, but… she can’t vouch for anyone else. Thirteen people who she can’t speak for. Thirteen people who could commit a murder. If they saw a video that was anything like the one that she watched… Aoi huffs out another breath, biting hard at her lip. This is the reason Sakura offered to sleep in here tonight, to keep her safe from potential murderers. But it doesn’t stop her mind from wandering.

“...Asahina,” Sakura’s low voice interrupts her thoughts, and Aoi jumps. Not because she forgot the other girl was there (Sakura has a sort of… very distinct presence, to the extent that every time they’re in the same room, Aoi is  _ very aware of it)  _ but more because she got so caught up with thinking that she didn’t realise that she was probably being very loud. She pulls her hands away from her eyes, looking over at the martial artist and trying not to look too pathetic. “Are you… alright?” Sakura inquires faintly.

“I’m fine,” Aoi dismisses before she can really give any thought to the question. When Sakura’s brow furrows, she keeps talking, an almost manic edge to her voice. “I’m just, thinking, about- about the videos, and stuff, that’s all, still. Was I moving around too much and keeping you awake? I’m sorry, I can try to be more still- or- or I can sleep on the floor? I-”

“It’s alright,” the martial artist interrupts. “After what we saw earlier, there is no reason why you wouldn’t be upset.” She shifts slightly, pushing herself up onto her elbows so she’s propped up on the bed, and Aoi follows suit, hesitantly sitting up and tucking her legs under her. “Is it anything that you think talking will help?”

Nothing that she hasn’t already been over in her head a million times by now. Aoi averts her gaze. “The questions that are running through my head… I don’t think you could provide any answers to them.” She mumbles.

At that, Sakura hums, and sits up as well, nodding slowly. Her expression reflects understanding, but she still seems concerned, and Aoi feels bad. She’s already imposing, having the martial artist in her room like this. Sakura didn’t seem like she was so scared that she needed company, when they were drinking tea in the dining hall. She’d probably be doing just fine on her own right now, sleeping in her own bed, minus the presence of someone who’s moving around a lot and making a lot of noise. Forget talking about it. That would be asking way too much.

“It’s really okay.” Aoi tells her, and runs a hand through her hair. She glances at the hair tie on her wrist, frowning at it. It’s almost broken. She uses it so often to tie her hair up into such a tight ponytail. She’s surprised it’s lasted so long as is. She has others, of course, in her luggage, but… she’s getting distracted, though, and Sakura is still looking at her, that concern lining every part of her face. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll be alright.”   
  


“If that’s what you want.” Sakura replies slowly, after a long moment, and it isn’t, really, but Aoi doesn’t think that it would be fair for her to ask for more. The martial artist lies back down again, and so Aoi follows suit, turning onto her side this time and staring at the bathroom door. It’s slightly ajar, which is good in case either of them needs to use the bathroom during the night. They won’t end up making too much noise.

Aoi closes her eyes, figuring that she should try to sleep. It must be getting closer to midnight by now- though she doesn’t feel particularly to grab her student handbook and check the exact hour. She’s definitely going to get up before the morning announcement tomorrow, because she tends to wake up pretty early as a general rule, but being up so late she’s not sure that it’s going to feel good at all. Right now she doesn’t even feel tired. (Probably a result of all the adrenaline from the fear.) But tomorrow, she’s sure that the exhaustion will catch up to her.

She screws her eyes shut tighter. If she just shuts off her brain, she’ll be able to catch a bit of sleep. That’s what she’s aiming for. She just has to stop thinking about all of these things. It should be easy! She doesn’t think very much during the day, so why is her brain so active right now, at night? She bites her lip again to stop from huffing, knowing that Sakura will hear it and get up again. C’mon, just don’t think.  _ Don’t  _ think. It’s simple. She does it all the time.

Eventually, Aoi nods off. A combination of tiredness from focusing so hard and the adrenaline finally wearing off sends her over the edge and her eyes close without her forcing them to and the tension in her shoulders and chest is released. Often, when Aoi sleeps, she doesn’t actually remember what she dreams about (unless her dreams are about donuts. Yum). Once in a while, though, she’ll have a nightmare, or something, and she’ll wake up in a cold sweat, unable to stop the dream that she just had from running through her mind on loop.

In her mind, Monokuma’s high pitched voice breaks into laughter, and the robot ponders,  _ What could have happened to this star swimmer? Will he ever see his sister again? Find out after graduation!  _ and she sees herself standing in front of the pool, the blue-tinted water turned a deep red with blood. The bleachers are in tatters and a single torn pool noodle floats in the middle of the water. Her brother isn’t there. She’s alone. But Monokuma’s laughter is echoing throughout the space, drilling into her brain, and-

Aoi wakes up with a gasp, almost falling out of the bed. The tears that drip from her eyes are more due to residual shock and fear than actual horror at what she just saw in her head; the dream hasn’t fully processed yet. It’ll sink in in a minute, and she’ll get the space to break down without all the shaking and gasping.

Before that happens, though, a hand lands on her upper arm, firm but gentle, the touch soft as though she’s something precious, and Aoi remembers that she’s not alone in here. Part of her warns her that she’s about to be imposing again, but the part of her that’s still shaking from her nightmare shoves that voice to the side as she turns around, meeting Sakura’s still-hazy-with-sleep blue eyes and almost collapsing right there.

The martial artist mouths something, perhaps her name, and then shifts her body, opening her arms for Aoi to fall into. They’ve known each other for a few days tops- there’s no reason for that kind of intimacy- but Aoi doesn’t care about that right now. Her lower lip wobbles and she presses her face into Sakura’s neck as she slips into the embrace, breathing out a sob and tensing up when Sakura’s arms wrap around her. Only to relax again, realising how secure she feels being held in them.

They don’t speak. Aoi isn’t sure what she’d say if they did. She just lies there, in Sakura’s arms, until she stops shaking, and then after that, because she doesn’t want to pull away.

As she drifts off to sleep for a second time, it occurs to Aoi that perhaps by staying in here, Sakura isn’t protecting her so much from the danger of the other people trapped in this building, but the dangers lurking in her own mind.

(They don’t talk about it the next morning. Aoi wants to bring it up, but she doesn’t know how. When Makoto screams, and they all run to his room as see Sayaka’s body, propped up against the wall of the shower, and Makoto himself, unconscious in front of her, Aoi nearly collapses again- but Sakura’s hand finds hers, in the midst of it all, and she thinks maybe what happened doesn’t have to be addressed. Not directly, anyway.)

**Author's Note:**

> it's about time I wrote something about these two
> 
> sorry guys but this ship is CANON and I don't accept anything else uwu you're not about to tell me that Hina wasn't super gay for Sakura after she tried to kill her whole class as well as herself when she thought they were responsible for Sakura's death are you like c'mon let's be real here
> 
> ajbsdsfbs anyway uhhhhhhh babies. my babies Whom I Love. I miss them...


End file.
